Rose Care

PLANTING
Select a site that receives at least six hours of sunlight each day. Do not crowd your roses as good air circulation helps prevent disease. Remember that other shrubs and trees will compete with roses for light, water and nutrients, so plant with recommended spacing. Roses do best in well-drained soil that is slightly acidic (pH of 6.0 to 6.5). Improve the condition of your soil by mixing Cotton Burr Compost or Down to Earth Alfalfa Meal into the planting hole. Alfalfa Meal is derived from sun cured, non-genetically modified alfalfa that is freshly milled to preserve the highest plant nutrient value. Cotton Burr is 100% organic compost that improves poor soil immediately by restoring vital organic matter and humus. It increases moisture-holding capacity of sandy soils and is unsurpassed at breaking up clay soils. Cotton Burr Compost adds beneficial microorganisms to the soil. Immediately after planting, water in your roses with ferti•lome Root Stimulator. Repeat at least two times (more is OK) at weekly intervals. 

FEEDING
Roses need regular fertilizer applications. Start feeding roses on April 1 and continue through September 1. We recommend monthly feedings with a granular fertilizer such as ferti•lome Rose Food. To protect roses from insects while providing a balanced fertilizer, use ferti•lome Rose and Flower Food Plus Systemic. To enhance blooming, use a water soluble fertilizer such as ferti•lome Blooming & Rooting between the monthly granular feedings. 

WATERING
Roses need plenty of water (1-2” of rainfall or its equivalent each week). On the other hand, roses must have well-drained soil and won’t tolerate standing in water. To prevent disease, keep water off the foliage. Sprinklers are not good for roses. Soaker hoses are better, but drip irrigation is best for roses. 

MULCH
After the soil warms up in early June, add mulch around the base of your roses. This helps prevent weeds and the spread of disease. It also helps retain soil moisture and keeps the root zone of the plant cooler during our hot Kansas summers. Use any organic mulch such as cedar mulch, cypress mulch or Cotton Burr Compost. In early fall, remove the summer mulch to allow the soil to cool. After we’ve had several hard freezes (around Thanksgiving) it’s time to add winter mulch. The goal is to keep the ground frozen to avoid a freeze/thaw cycle. Many methods are used, including rose collars or wire cages filled with organic mulch. Protect the plant at least 12” above the ground at the graft union. For more information, see below. Don’t remove your protection too early in the spring. Depending on the weather, remove winter mulch in early to mid April. “Shrub” roses or “landscape” roses are not grafted and do not need winter protection up to 12”, but it is still a good idea to mulch around the base of these plants just like with other shrubs. 

PESTS
Roses may be attacked by fungus and insects. The best control is to take preventative steps instead of curative control. Once a month when you feed with ferti•lome Rose Food, use ferti•lome 2-N-1 Systemic. The systemic is an insect and disease control liquid you just dilute in water and pour at the base of the plant. During severe disease stress, spray with ferti•lome Systemic Fungicide II. More natural options would include ferti-lome Insecticidal Soap for insects and ferti-lome Copper Fungicide for disease. 

PRUNING
Whatever type of rose you have, pruning is beneficial. Prune most roses in early spring just before budbreak. This allows you to tell where winter damage has taken place. Remove any suckers (canes coming from below the graft union), then remove any damaged, dead or diseased wood. Select three or four healthy canes of younger wood, keeping in mind the shape of the bush after pruning. Remove other weaker and older canes. Next, prune back the canes being saved to a length of 8” to 12” making the cut above an outside bud. Shrub roses may also be pruned in early spring. Again, cut back any dead or diseased canes and then prune for shape and size, preferring to leave young healthy canes and pruning away older canes. Climbing roses should be pruned only AFTER blooming in the late spring or early summer, otherwise you’re cutting off this year’s flowers. Climbing roses don’t need to be cut back as much as other roses, but should have dead, damaged or diseased canes and suckers removed. To keep roses blooming, remove spent blossoms as soon as possible. Stop deadheading about first of September to allow roses to go dormant which will reduce winter kill. In general, shrub roses do not need deadheading but will benefit from pruning to keep them in shape. 

WINTERIZING ROSES

Grafted roses (typically hybrid teas, grandifloras and floribundas) need extra winter protection at the site of the graft which is located a few inches above ground. Shrub or landscape roses (such as Flower Carpets) are grown on their own root stock and do not have a grafted area to protect.

To winterize your grafted roses and keep them blooming for years to come, follow the important winterizing tips below. Many of these tips are also good recommendations for winterizing shrub roses, but you do not need to use a rose collar. Just a good layer of mulch will do.

• Discontinue feeding roses with granular fertilizers in early August. After August, fertilize roses with a quickly-absorbed water soluble food like ferti•lome All Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food (20-20-20) or Nature’s Source Plant Food. Discontinue using a water soluble food around Sept. 15.

• Do not cut the last blooms in the fall so rose hips will form. This slows growth and helps encourage dormancy.

• Around Thanksgiving is typically the best time to winterize your roses, because they require several hard freezes before applying winter mulch.

• Rake off and remove all fallen leaves from the rose bed to prevent overwintering of many sporeborne diseases such as blackspot.

• Protect against blackspot with a thorough spraying, including the soil around each rose bush, with ferti•lome Systemic Fungicide II (contains Propiconazole).

• Water roses thoroughly.

• Place Rose Collar around base of rose bush (Figure A) and attach it by snapping the two plastic buttons together in matching holes (Figure B). If possible, press the collar down a little into the soil.

• Fill the collar with organic mulch (Figure C). We recommend Cotton Burr Compost.

• Protection should be about 12” above ground to cover the graft area.

• Prune back only the canes that are in your way or will whip in the wind. Leave major pruning until early spring after all danger of a killing frost has passed.

• Do not remove the collar until all danger of a killing frost has passed.